Our USP as a higher-tier, problem-solving consultancy is to work with clients to find novel solutions to often very complex regulatory issues. We push the boundaries of current regulatory frameworks, identifying limitations and data gaps. For more than 20 years, CEA has been developing state-of-the-art regulatory risk assessment methods and research to help inform policy advice and research for government agencies and to advance the regulatory world in which our commercial clients operate.
We have close links within our parent company networks (ADAS and RSK), as well as other contract research organisations, academics, independent consultancies and regulatory authorities. If you have a research project in mind and are looking for a collaborator, or perhaps don’t know where to start and whether it’s even feasible, please get in touch and we would be happy to discuss it with you. We can help you find a way forward.
Examples of ecotoxicology research and development projects delivered by CEA. Government-funded projects include
- assessing the temporal and seasonal changes in the ecology of untreated mesocosms and natural water bodies (PS2339)
- developing reproductive risk assessment methods for birds potentially exposed to treated seed (PS2373)
- providing a review of environmental protection goals (HSE/T4011.1).
Journal articles
- Analysis of an herbicidal mixture monitored over 3.5 years in a highly agriculturally influenced landscape
- Predicted dermal and dietary exposure of bats to pesticides
- Assessing the risks to bats from plant protection products: a review of the recent EFSA statement regarding toxicity and exposure routes
- Historical control data for the interpretation of ecotoxicity data: are we missing a trick?
- Modelling breeding success in birds potentially exposed to treated seed
- Bird and mammal risk assessment for plant protection products in the EU
- The Challenge: Pollinator risk assessment – past, present and future
Literature reviews
- Ecology of a particular algal species found in a historical mesocosm study
- Factors driving the environmental fate and ecotoxicity of a heavy metal used in organic farming
- Comparison of endocrine systems in birds and other vertebrates
- The impact of increasing pH in water bodies on aquatic organisms
- Growth periods of aquatic macrophytes growing in Europe
Research collaborations
- Research partner for EMBARC: Exploring Mayflies and Bats: Assessing the Risk of Chemicals, a UKRI Future Leaders fellowship awarded to Dr Charles Hazlerigg of our sister RSK company, Enviresearch
- Part of Aquacosm, a network of mesocosm facilities for research on marine and freshwater ecosystems open for global collaboration
- Part of CHRONIC, a Marie Curie international training network that will host 13 PhD projects aimed at developing tools and approaches to identify relevant non-standard modes of toxicity for low chronic chemical exposure and integrate these with environmental stressors
- Part of ECORISC (ecotoxicological risk assessment towards sustainable use), a six-year centre for doctoral training funded by the Natural Environment Research Council
- Co-supervisor for PhD projects, e.g., Valeria Manfredi at The University of Nottingham “The application of DNA detection methods, metabarcoding and species-specific PCR, to aquatic ecotoxicity monitoring”
You can find our conference posters, platform presentations and published journal articles in the CEA library.
